Racism

Last Sunday, I stood in downtown Phoenix with 100 other Native American protestors chanting “No More Victims, No More Stereotypes” and praying for Indigenous women—our sisters—who have fallen to domestic violence, rape, and murder.

I have watched with interest as the brouhaha over the Washingon Redskins team name as it spilled over from our nation’s capital to the deepest backwaters of Red and Blue America. And I admit to being puzzled.

I'm not surprised by the recent grand jury ruling against indicting Officer Darren Wilson for the shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. Disgusted. Heartbroken. Angry. But not surprised. I know too much to be surprised.

I commonly work with racial equity issues in my role as Indigenous Researcher & Policy Analyst for First Alaskans Institute. With Halloween approaching, I’d like to share my perspective why wearing Native American “costumes” is a bad idea.

The effort to relegate "redskins" to the wastebasket of historical racism stirs up a backlash from so-called "fans" of the epithet. One backlash aims at the group EONM—Eradicating Offensive Native Mascotry.